Student Learning Community of Practice: Making Meaning of the Student Learning Imperative and Principles of Good Practice in Student Affairs

This ethnomethodological case study analysis explored and described how The Student Learning Imperative (American College Personnel Association, 1994), Principles of Good Practice for Student Affairs (American College Personnel Association & National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, 1996), and Good Practice in Student Affairs (Blimling & Whitt, 1999) are understood and utilized as guides to design and implement practice in a student affairs division. The Senior Student Affairs Officer (SSAO) provided leadership and direction to shape and cultivate a student learning approach to practice. Staff members developed an organizational ethos that is aligned with several of the guiding principles. Patterns and processes of congruence and incongruence that emerged from the ethos were compared with the principles espoused by the guiding documents. Incongruence demonstrated that three communities of practices were at work in this division of student affairs that includes a learning, services, or consumer mission. A focus on learning was not the primary mission for each functional area. Most functional areas with either services or consumerism as their primary mission did develop a secondary learning mission.